Interactive athletic equipment system

Abstract

Systems and techniques for the collection and display of athletic information. Athletic data relating to a single person or group of people is collected at a central location, and subsequently displayed at a desired remote location so that the person or people can review and critique their performance. In addition, athletic data for multiple persons can be collected at a central location, and subsequently displayed to a user at a desired remote location, so that the user can compare his or her athletic activities to others.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 receiving, by an athletic performance device and from a portable computing device, historical data for athletic activity performed by a first user using the athletic performance device; 
 extracting, by the athletic performance device and from the historical data, first activity information associated with a first type of athletic activity; 
 discarding, by the athletic performance device, second activity information associated with a second type of athletic activity that is different from the first type of athletic activity; 
 receiving, by the athletic performance device and from the portable computing device, an indication to adjust at least one of an incline or resistance level of the athletic performance device in accordance with a training program; 
 adjusting, based on the indication, the least one of the incline or the resistance level of the athletic performance device; 
 determining, by the athletic performance device, an amount of athletic activity performed by a second user using the athletic performance device; 
 comparing, by the athletic performance device, the amount of athletic activity performed by the second user with the first activity information of the historical data; and 
 outputting, by the athletic performance device, a display of an indication of the comparing the amount of the athletic activity performed by the second user with the historical data. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the athletic performance device is located at a first location and wherein the method further comprises transmitting the historical data to a second location. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving athletic performance data from the second location; and 
 comparing the athletic activity performed by the second user with the athletic performance data received form the second location. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , further comprising extracting data specific to a type of athletic activity from the received athletic performance data. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the type of athletic activity corresponds to the athletic activity performed by the second user and wherein the method further comprises comparing only the extracted data to the athletic activity performed by the second user. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the first location is a first athletic training facility and wherein the second location is a second athletic training facility. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing one or more messages to the second user based on how the athletic activity of the second user compares with the historical data. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more messages includes a motivational message. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more messages includes a suggestion for beating an average of the historical data. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the historical data to a remote network site. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transferring the historical data to a storage device. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising sending, to a portable device of the second user, the indication of the comparing the amount of the athletic activity performed by the second user with the historical data. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a first set of athletic performance data from a first sensor and a second set of athletic performance data from a second sensor; 
 converting the first set of athletic performance data and the second set of athletic performance data to a common measurement unit; and 
 outputting for display the converted first set of athletic performance data and the converted second set of athletic performance data.